DENVER (AP) — Maikel Garcia, MJ Melendez and Bobby Witt Jr. homered, Brady Singer won for the first time on the road this season and the Kansas City Royals beat the Colorado Rockies 10-1 on Sunday to end a three-game losing streak. Garcia’s three-run homer capped a four-run second inning off right-hander Tanner Gordon (0-1), who was making his major league debut. Melendez homered in the seventh, and Witt hit his 15th to cap a three-hit day in a three-run ninth. Singer (5-5) gave one run and six hits — all singles — and stuck out seven in seven innings for his first road victory since Aug. 8, 2023, in Boston. Nolan Jones hit run-scoring single to break Singer’s shutout with two outs in the seventh.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Willson Contreras hit his second homer of the series and Kyle Gibson (7-3) tossed five innings as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Washington Nationals 8-3 Sunday at Nationals Park. Contreras’ line drive 395-foot homer off Nationals reliever Derek Law in the seventh left the yard at 108.9 mph. He also singled and scored twice with three RBIs. The Cardinals have won five of their last seven and have the best record in the National League since May 12 at 32-18 (.640). Nationals starter DJ Herz (1-3) lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing five runs, four earned, on five hits with two walks.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Christian Yelich and Blake Perkins both homered, had three hits and drove in three runs as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-2 Sunday to snap a seven-game losing streak at Dodger Stadium. Eric Haase had a two-run homer in the fifth inning for the Brewers, who avoided a sweep in the weekend matchup of National League division leaders and are one of three teams in the majors not to have a losing streak of at least four games this season. Chris Taylor supplied the Dodgers’ runs with a two-run shot in the seventh inning. Los Angeles ended up going deep eight times in the series.
UNDATED (AP) — Pete Alonso will participate in his fifth straight Home Run Derby, with the New York Mets first baseman trying to win for the third time. Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson and Philadelphia’s Alec Bohm also have committed to the July 15 event at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Ken Griffey Jr. is the only three-time champion of the derby, which started in 1985, winning in 1994, 1998 and 1999. Alonso won the competition in 2019 as a rookie of Cleveland’s Progressive Field, then repeated in 2021 at Denver’s Coors Field.
UNDATED (AP) — Pittsburgh pitcher Paul Skenes was picked for the All-Star Game just eight weeks after his debut, and major league-leading Philadelphia had a big league-high seven selections. The 22-year-old Skenes made his first big league appearance on May 11 and is 5-0 with a 2.12 ERA in 10 starts. Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga joined Skenes and San Diego outfielder Jackson Merrill as the only rookies for the July 16 game at Arlington, Texas. Philadelphia pitchers Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez, Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm joined three starting teammates: first baseman Bryce Harper, shortstop Trea Turner and third baseman Alec Bohm.
CHICAGO (AP) — Alex Bowman secured a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs when he held on for the victory on a rainy street course in downtown Chicago. It was Bowman’s first win since Las Vegas in March 2022 and No. 8 for his career. He is the 12th Cup Series driver to win this year, leaving four remaining spots in the playoffs with six races left in the regular season. The race was stopped for more than 100 minutes because of rain, and NASCAR set a cutoff time of 8:20 p.m. CDT because of the fading sunlight. Tyler Reddick made a late push, but he got into a wall trying to catch up to Bowman. Ty Gibbs was third, followed by Joey Hand and Michael McDowell.
SILVIS, Ill. (AP) — Davis Thompson is a PGA Tour winner and it wasn't even close. Thompson opened with five birdies in six holes to pull away. He shot a 64 and set the 72-hole scoring record at the John Deere Classic at 28-under 256, winning by four strokes. The victory gets him in the British Open in two weeks. The Georgia native also goes to the Masters for the first time next April. The real battle was for second place. C.T. Pan tied for second with Florida State sophomore Luke Clanton and Stanford alum Michael Thorbjornsen. Pan gets the British Open spot based on his world ranking.
LONDON (AP) — Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and top-ranked Jannik Sinner are one win each away from meeting in the Wimbledon semifinals. Both reached the quarterfinals with victories Sunday. Alcaraz beat Ugo Humbert 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, and Sinner eliminated Ben Shelton 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (9). Next for Alcaraz is a match against Tommy Paul. Sinner plays Daniil Medvedev, who advanced when Grigor Dimitrov stopped playing with an injury. French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal when Madison Keys had to retire with a leg injury in the third set. Donna Vekic and Lulu Sun reached the quarterfinals, too.
UNDATED (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo is now an Olympian. Antetokounmpo is heading to the Olympics for the first time, after he scored 23 points and Greece held off Croatia 80-69 on Sunday in one of the four men’s basketball qualifying tournament finals being held to determine the final spots in the 12-team field for the Paris Games. Brazil also is going to the Paris Olympics, after a 19-0 run over the final 3:21 of the first quarter set the tone in what became a surprisingly easy 94-69 victory over Latvia. So is Spain, which held off the Bahamas for its seventh consecutive Olympic berth. And Puerto Rico grabbed the last spot by beating Lithuania.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kevin Durant is dealing with calf soreness that has kept him from being a full participant in USA Basketball’s training camp for the Paris Olympics, though he has assured team officials that he does not expect the issue to be a major one. Durant is the second forward who hasn’t been able to be a full participant in the U.S. camp that had its second day of on-floor workouts Sunday; Boston forward Jayson Tatum was excused from the first two days of camp workouts for personal reasons and is expected to be on the floor with his U.S. teammates for the first time on Monday.
SUNDAY SCORES
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Final Detroit 5 Cincinnati 1
Final Cleveland 5 San Francisco 4
Final Miami 7 Chicago White Sox 4
Final Chicago Cubs 5 L.A. Angels 0
Final Kansas City 10 Colorado 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Minnesota 3 Houston 2
Final Texas 13 Tampa Bay 2
Final Baltimore 6 Oakland 3
Final Toronto 5 Seattle 4
Final Boston 3 N.Y. Yankees 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Atlanta 6 Philadelphia 0
Final St. Louis 8 Washington 3
Final N.Y. Mets 3 Pittsburgh 2
Final Arizona 9 San Diego 1